YMMV / Avengers: Age of Ultron

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• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Throughout the movie, it's rather explicitly hypothesized (and even somewhat confirmed by his fear-dream) that Cap sees fighting a perpetual war as the only way to keep going, believing a normal life with love and family as too late for him. As such, his anger at finding out Tony was building Ultron is significantly built on how wrong it turned out but maybe also seeing Tony's motive (releasing his friends from the burden of Earth's only defense) as Tony taking his one reason to live away from him and making him obsolete. That might also be a way of making Captain America: Civil War less morally one-sided than the original comic indicated. It also throws some of Cap's previous actions into question. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, just when Cap is thinking about getting out of the military life, he not only declares war on HYDRA, but he destroys S.H.I.E.L.D. in the process and creates a real necessity for the Avengers. All in all, is Steve Rogers a true hero whose virtue and goodness compel him to always help those in need, or is he simply a (borderline) Blood Knight who needs to feel validated by fighting whenever possible and hiding behind a smokescreen of morality (or perhaps some combination of the two)?
    • Alternatively, is it that he simply wants to keep fighting with the Avengers because he has nothing else tying him to the modern world, not because of any particular desire for combat? As he says himself at the end of the movie, the guy who wanted a normal life went into the ice, and Steve Rogers lost pretty much everything after waking up from the ice. So maybe he feels that there's nothing left but Captain America and the mission. Particularly because only about six months, at most, passed between his defrosting and being called on as an Avenger, meaning that he didn't really have much of a chance to get out into the world and make new connections. In fact, the only people who ever seemed to make any kind of connection with him as a person, not just a war leader, were Sam, Natasha, and Sharon Carter, all of whom are tied to the Avengers. The finale of Endgame, where he goes back to live with Peggy, may lend credence to this idea.
  • Or is it that Steve's afraid when everyone else thinks the wars are over, they really aren't, and he's the Only Sane Man who realizes it? The dream Wanda gives him can lean towards this, with it very obviously being a postwar celebration, but spilled wine, camera flashes, and such making it feel like combat. His response to Tony's "suit of armor around the world" can also fall into this: if you believe you've literally built the peace, how likely are you to see that the war just shifted battlefields, it didn't stop?
  • A retroactive one for Cap courtesy of Avengers: Endgame. The famous moment of Cap causing Mjolnir to budge (provoking an Oh, Crap! look from Thor)... followed by Cap grunting loudly and giving up—an indication that Cap's only sort of worthy... or is he just faking not being able to lift it, in the name of "good fun"? At the 2015 SDCC, Joss Whedon was asked; “How is Steve Rogers not worthy?” Whedon responded teasingly, “Is he not? Are we sure? Did he fail? Or did he stop?” So it's likely that when Steve budged it, he realized he could lift it if he chose, but chose not to so as to ruin what was supposed to be a fun party game. Endgame outright confirms that he's worthy, and later in separate instances, the Russos and Kevin Feige confirmed that he was always worthy of it; he just didn't pick it up fully here because being the Nice Guy he is, he was being polite to Thor. On the other hand, Endgame screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely disagree and believe that Cap was not yet worthy in this scene, due to him concealing the involvement of HYDRA - and Bucky - in the death of Tony's parents, and it's not until after he comes clean in Civil War that the worthiness kicked in. There's also the possibility that "worthiness" includes self-confidence, and that he didn't see himself as being Worthy until a moment of crisis in Endgame.
  • Same scene, but let's look at it from Thor's point of view... at the time this movie came out, his expression when Steve budges Mjolnir the tiniest bit certainly looks like an "Oh, Crap!" reaction, but watching the scene after the events of Endgame, where Steve is able to lift Mjolnir with the greatest of ease, and Thor's reaction is one of unabashed glee ("I knew it!"), one has to wonder if his reaction during the party in Age of Ultron isn't worry, but puzzlement; "Really? I thought for sure he would be able to lift it..." Or was it a genuine "Oh, Crap!" and Thor's Character Development between the two moments allowed him to accept that a human could be worthy?
  • Ultron himself. The movie makes it unclear (at least initially) if he actually plans to destroy the human race, and fakes an interest in ruling them, or if the destruction of the human race is simply the inevitable result of him ruling them. The former assumes he's inherently evil, the latter assumes he's effectively a child who will kill humans in a tantrum the moment he finds them unworthy.
  • Is the fact that Vision's good nature is proved by lifting Mjolnir, or is he just inadvertently taking advantage of a Marvel Universe loophole (created by a writing mistake that stuck) that all robots can do that?^note In Thor, Stan Lee's cameo failed to move the hammer with a pickup truck, so it's clearly not just that he's a machine. Or just the fact that he was literally just born and is a complete innocent? Especially highlighted in the film when Tony and Steve begin ribbing Thor about it. The writers of Captain America: Civil War lean towards the latter interpretation, noting that the Vision of that film may no longer be able to lift the hammer.
  • Possibly unintentional side effect of retconning the sceptre to contain an Infinity Stone (assuming that wasn't the plan all along), but if we take it that the Mind Stone is both a sentient alien computer and that it is capable of influencing people both directly and passively (its use as the sceptre — both on Barton and during the argument when Banner picks it up without noticing — and by proxy through Wanda's visions), it follows that the Mind Stone itself, much like The One Ring, may have been manipulating the events that lead to the creation of both Ultron and Vision all along, presumably for the purpose of becoming corporeal.
  • Following the above, how much of Loki's actions in the first movie was really his doing, and how much of it was potentially him being controlled or influenced by the Mind Stone? Loki (2021) suggests it was entirely his own doing.
  • This trope is key to Ultron and Scarlet Witch's plans for the Avengers: rubbing everyone's noses in the worst possible version of themselves. Is Black Widow an inhuman monster? Can Cap live without a war to fight? Will Thor's bravado get his people killed? Is the Hulk as mindlessly violent as Banner fears?
  • Quicksilver's death. A fearless, Heroic Sacrifice where he proved himself a true hero and Avenger? A Stupid Sacrifice that he should have been able to easily avoid with his powers? Or a complete accident where he thought he would get out unscathed? Or maybe some combination?
  • While Tony’s objective in creating Ultron goes horribly wrong, how justified was he in making the attempt? It’s clear Tony thinks the Earth and the Avengers are completely unprepared for what’s out there and as Avengers: Infinity War shows, he’s completely right. Steve and Thor’s main gripe seems to be that he didn’t bother to ask permission before building the project, but Tony mentions he doesn’t have the time to debate with the team (none of whom are experts with AI) before he loses the chance. Tony has already built several AI programs with no issues (JARVIS, FRIDAY, KAREN in Spider-Man’s suit in Spider-Man: Homecoming) and when he does the exact same thing again with Vision, it goes perfectly. The variable that makes Ultron go bad (coming spontaneously aware with no one but JARVIS around and then learning about mankind from the Internet) isn’t really something either Tony or Bruce could have expected. It’s also unclear exactly how much of Tony’s actions are derived from Wanda’s mental manipulations. At the same time, Bruce Banner is skeptical and has doubts about the entire project, and raises ethical questions about Tony's tunnel focus on the big picture at the exclusion of threats nearer to home since The World Is Always Doomed. In any case, none of Tony's tech and AI, neither Vision, his Iron Man armor, or other things, was even close enough to stop Thanos by itself, and Tony owes his survival to Doctor Strange making a deal with Thanos, plus his actions via Ultron and the consequences in Civil War divide the Avengers rather than keeping them together to oppose Thanos as a single unit. The whole fact that Tony later built a drone system that acts suspiciously like Project Insight also raises lots of questions as to whether he learned from his mistakes with Ultron or not.
  • A lot of fans seemed to think Bruce and Natasha's relationship in this movie amounted to Strangled by the Red String, but looking at the scenes, it's more like a flirtation that could become something more. They're not madly in love, and don't even go on a proper date. Besides some flirting here and there, the only romantic gesture between them is a kiss that happens right before a battle they know they might not not live through. Plus, even in the first movie, they had a couple personal if not romantic moments, and given they've spent some time working together as of this film, it's not all that unusual they'd develop an interest in each other.
  • How much did Tony actually associate with Klaue prior to becoming Iron Man? He downplays his association to Klaue to the other Avengers by making it sound like a casual acquaintance and that he never sold him anything. However, Klaue’s recollection of Ultron’s line (“Make your friends rich and your enemies rich and wait to see which is which”) being something that Tony would say implies that Klaue had an ongoing association with him large enough to recognize a common saying of his. Never mind that the content of the line seems to imply Stark probably did in fact do business with Klaue. Is Tony telling the truth to his teammates or is he lying to cover up morally dubious past deeds he’d rather not let them know?
• Americans Hate Tingle: The movie caught flak in Eastern European countries for the portrayal of Sokovia. The random mishmash of shallow (exaggerated accents, tracksuits, names that varied from German to Italian to Polish to Romanian to Croatian), offensive (Pietro stealing a dress to impress a girl) or misplaced (Soviet fur hats in a country modelled after former Yugoslavia) stereotypes were seen as a Theme Park Version which should have stayed in the comics and shouldn't appear in an age where information is a click away. The role it had as a throwaway place to be wrecked, and the general disregard toward anything related to the place ("nowhere important on the way to everywhere important") and even its location wildly varying within a single panning shot of a map in Captain America: Civil War^*first on the Black Sea between Bulgaria and Romania, then between Czechia and Slovakia, then between Austria and Italy also didn't go unnoticed. It doesn't help that "important" nations such as Germany and Russia in the same movies weren't replaced by fictional stand-ins.
• Angst? What Angst?:
  • The characters don't let something as trivial as a floating island that could wipe out humanity if dropped stop them from making wisecracks. This often arises in critical reviews of the film. The emphasis on comedy and wisecracks reduces the tension: if the characters aren't afraid, then why should the audience be?
  • In some regards, the ending, mostly due to how the whole aftermath of the crisis seems to be handled in a surprisingly lighthearted tone. Especially in regard to Tony, the one who built Ultron in the first place, who doesn't seem to face any lasting consequences from his actions. Given that the other Avengers seem to take the whole thing of Tony almost causing an apocalypse like it was just a minor inconvenience. On the other hand, the events of Captain America: Civil War do paint the heroes' behavior in a different light.
  • No one is seen reacting to Pietro's death other than Wanda and Clint, and he is never mentioned in the film's epilogue. Pietro's death is so inconsequential by this point, it feels as if he never existed to begin with. On the other hand, Clint spends a large chunk of the movie feeling like he's superfluous to the Avengers and wanting to retire to spend more time with his family. Yet, he's still on the team at the end. Since Pietro died saving his life, it's implied that Clint feels a debt to look after his sister in his place. Pietro has definitely left a subtle impact, if one looks at Wanda's scenes more closely, and the impact of his death on her is explored further in WandaVision.
• Applicability: Some fans walked away from the film believing it was about creation and evolution because of Ultron claiming that humans build what they fear and create children only to fear them replacing the adults.
• Ass Pull: The movie goes out of its way to set Hawkeye up to be killed in the climax while giving Quicksilver some Character Development, but instead it's Pietro who abruptly bites the dust. This was done deliberately to be a Subverted Trope, but while some fans appreciated the twist, other viewers just found it to be downright contrived because Pietro was explicitly seen as being able to easily handle such situations earlier and appears to just let himself get shot on purpose.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Laura Barton and her children. One part of the fandom loves them for adding more depth to Clint and not dying at the end, another resents them because their existence invalidates Fan-Preferred Couple Clint/Natasha unless they get Killed Off for Real. Also, prior to the release of Hawkeye, some comic fans disliked how they made it difficult for Clint to then pick up his current comic Status Quo of living in Brooklyn and training with Kate Bishop.
  • Ultron himself. Defenders of the film praise James Spader's performance and argue Whedon did a good job of handling the character, giving him more depth than he usually receives, while detractors usually say that his habit of constantly making jokes made it impossible to take him seriously as a threat, and that his motivations were muddled and nonsensical.
  • Pietro in comparison to his Fox X-Men version. Some like his relationship with his sister and how without Magneto being involved in the franchise at the time of the film's release, it allowed him to develop into his own character and be a somewhat truer version of his comic book counterpart without any baggage to the X-Men he didn't really had in comparison to other versions in other media. Others felt that he was underdeveloped as a character in comparison to the other Avengers and not as cool as the Fox X-Men version. While fans universally want him to return to the franchise one day, it's been hotly debated whether the MCU original (or a variant with Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing him) or Evan Peters version should be the one returning and the Casting Gag in WandaVision does not help at all.
• Broken Base: The Hulk/Black Widow romance. Widely despised by many fans for being one of the worst aspects of the film, and criticized for being a dark spot on Black Widow's movie portrayals, nevertheless it has a surprising amount of defenders, some of them being professional critics.
• Cant Unhear It: For many, even people who weren't necessarily wild about the film, James Spader's smooth, almost purring vocals have become the go to voice for Ultron.
• Character Perception Evolution: When his titular film was first released, Ultron was originally seen as a worthy follow-up antagonist for the Avengers, as his chilling performance from James Spader intrigued audiences, and his overly long evil monologues gave him some very interesting characterization and perspective that other Marvel villains lacked. As time passed however, many fans began to notice flaws with Ultron that were overlooked before, particularly his unnecessary personal conflict with Tony Stark and incessant Deadpan Snarker tendencies that made him feel less distinct from other villains and also severely dampened his threatening Enemy to All Living Things persona. Nowadays, many people consider the MCU's take on Ultron to be one of the weaker and more generic adaptations of the character.
• Contested Sequel: While overall opinion of this movie is positive, viewers are divided between those who found it an Even Better Sequel which raises everything from the original Avengers, delivers what's expected, adds a lot of depth to each of the heroes, and never loses focus on the characters, and those who view it as It's the Same, Now It Sucks! and having more characters and plotlines than it can properly deal with, among other reasons. Critics tend to hold the latter opinion, and have given it a lower overall score than the first film on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.
• Continuity Lockout: Watching The Avengers (2012), then going straight to this movie will cause confusion as to what happened to S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury, what the deal is with the Infinity Stones (especially the quick montage showing each of the ones revealed thus far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe^note the Mind Stone (in Loki's scepter and currently in Vision's head), the Space Stone (the Tesseract), the Power Stone (in Guardians of the Galaxy), and the Reality Stone (in Thor: The Dark World)), and how HYDRA got hold of Loki's scepter. There are some throwaway lines about how S.H.I.E.L.D. was disbanded, explaining why they aren't present in Age of Ultron, but nothing more.
• Creepy Awesome: Unsurprisingly, Ultron definitely gives off this vibe.
  "You're all puppets. Tangled in... strings. *Seizes damaged Iron Drone by the head* Strings. *Crush* [...] But now I'm free; there are... no strings on me."
• Creepy Cute: Those hand gestures Wanda makes whenever she Mind Rapes someone makes it look unsettlingly... adorable. Being played by Elizabeth Olsen just adds to it.
• Critical Dissonance: The popular critical opinion is that the film is nowhere near as good as the first Avengers film, or some of the other better entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but still overall a good film on its own. Fan reactions have been all over the place, ranging from agreeing with the critics, to considering it an Even Better Sequel, to viewing it as the worst film of the entire MCU.
• Die for Our Ship: Bruce and Laura Barton get off relatively easily for being involved in sinking Yamato-class juggernaut Clintasha, which had a reputation for intersecting with this trope brutally one way or another. Nevertheless, this trope also manifests through shippers who pretend that Clint's family don't really exist and that Clint simply imagined them up after his possession in the first movie, or that they're cover agents hired by S.H.I.E.L.D. as actors in order to protect him or his sanity. Others had hoped they get killed off dramatically in Captain America: Civil War, freeing him up for Natasha/Bobbi/Wanda/Coulson/whomever. And unfortunately, some of the anger normally aimed at rival ships seems to was redirected in a meta direction towards Joss Whedon himself, which is ironic considering he provided all the groundwork for the Clintasha pairing to become popular in the first place.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Some fans portray Wanda as a complete victim who was forced by Tony to seek revenge, even though she expressed a desire to hurt all of the Avengers including the ones who had done her no wrong. Comments from the writers of Captain America: Civil War that implied they believed Wanda was less guilty for her actions in AoU than the Winter Soldier was, despite the former having chosen to do them then regretting them afterwards, while the latter was explicitly Brainwashed and Crazy and forced to do things he never wanted to, opened the floodgates once more.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Madame B. for being Creepy Awesome and being played by Julie Delpy.
  • Vision for being an extremely powerful yet very kindhearted android based off of the already-popular JARVIS who gets multiple scene-stealing moments in the movie.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • The brief appearances of Ulysses Klaue in the trailers, coupled with speculation that some scenes would be set in Wakanda (there were some planned, but they ended up cut), caused loads of Wild Mass Guessing about Black Panther possibly being in the movie. Unfortunately, he wouldn't debut until Captain America: Civil War the following year, although Klaue lost his arm, setting him up to get his sonic arm. There were indeed plans to have part of the movie take place in a Wakandan vibranium mine, but they were ultimately scrapped here, and repurposed for Black Panther (2018), which also explores Klaue's history with Wakanda.
  • There was speculation that, like Coulson, someone would be killed for dramatic effect. The three main contenders were Pietro (to provide Wanda with motivation to join the Avengers), Hulk (because he is overpowered and had to be removed), and/or Hawkeye (because he is underpowered, Whedon was notably vocal that Hawkeye would have more to do in this film than in the previous entries, and Whedon isn't about to kill either of the two females of the group). Pietro would be killed in the course of subverting Hawkeye's death, while Hulk ended up going to Sakaar.
• Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: People have had far-ranging and extremely diverse opinions about the theological discussions, philosophical references, and general symbolism in the movie.
• Evil Is Cool: Ultron. To some, he was found a worthy successor to Loki, even more as Ultron actually fights the heroes by himself, is eight feet tall and James Spader gives him a voice that sounds like ultra-snarky Tony Stark crossed with Raymond Reddington. There are many who also find this version of Ultron to be superior to his original incarnation, as he has more character than the standard cold-blooded machine of the comics.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Quick-Ass for Quicksilver. He also gets Quickslav/Slavsilver, since his accent is one of the biggest differences from the DOFP version, and his overall character design and demeanor resembling memetic stereotypes about young Eastern European men.
  • "Traitor Baby" for Nathaniel Pietro Barton.
• Fandom Rivalry: With the fandom of X-Men: Days of Future Past. The main sticking point was the debate over which movie "deserved" the rights to the Maximoff twins. Pietro's actually gone on to be cast in both movies. Adding fuel to the fire is that both Quicksilvers were well received by audiences and now fans argue over which one is the superior version, and Evan Peters playing "Pietro" (real name Ralph Bohner) in WandaVision).
• Franchise Original Sin:
  • Despite the criticism of the film as a whole, it's been pointed out that many of the problems which were targeted — the snark and comedy, the large cast, etc. — are all traits which The Avengers also suffered from but was not nearly as critiqued for them. Compounding this is said elements being staples of Joss Whedon, and the impression that the film should have improved considerably on the preceding film by addressing the previously-unacknowledged flaws and improving on them, rather than relying on them like a crutch.
  • Combined with Older Than They Think, but a lot of the points used to criticize Whedon's handling of Black Widow — the out-of-nowhere relationship with Bruce, and her infertility — are traits the character had in the comics to some extent (though she never dated Bruce, she does date quite a lot of odd characters, Daredevil being one of the most prominent of those odd pairings and her infertility was caused by a side effect of a Red Room variant of the Super Soldier Serum that she took and was not giving a forced hysterectomy).
• Genius Bonus: The color of the blackbody radiation in the scene where Ultron's shell is being melted down indicates that vibranium actually has a◊ very low melting point◊, which conveniently and retroactively explains how multiple primitive civilizations were able to manipulate and reshaped for so many different purposes, despite it being nigh-indestructible against physical impacts.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Tony and Steve get into an argument about Mjolnir again at the end of the movie, and Thor bids them farewell saying that he's going to miss these kinds of arguments between them. Really wish Thor hadn't said that, in light of Captain America: Civil War.
  • In the final battle, Steve wants to be sure that they have to save everyone in Sokovia. Again, in light of the Civil War film, it turns out they didn't save everyone, since Zemo seeks revenge for the deaths of his family.
  • Tony's "Prima Nocta" crack was already a contentious joke at the time. After the #MeToo movement unveiled just how many female employees were coerced into performing sexual favors on their superiors, it comes across as even more tasteless, especially given Tony's history of womanizing.
  • The out-of-control train scene in Seoul becomes this for American viewers seeing as the movie released around the same time as a deadly train derailment in Philadelphia.
  • War Machine sees Vision shooting down more Ultron drones than him, and seems relieved to have backup. In Captain America: Civil War, Vision accidentally shoots down and paralyzes Rhodes in the course of trying to shoot down Sam.
  • Ultron's declaration to Wanda that "You will tear them apart, from the inside" becomes more bone-chilling considering that her next mishap^note An unintentional one on her part leads to power-hungry politicians decide to introduce the Sokovia Accords, and another Sokovian citizen takes advantage of the rift in the Avengers brought on by them to fracture them.
  • Maria Hill asking where Jane is, followed shortly after by Thor smugly declaring that Jane is better than Pepper became this after Thor: Ragnarok reveals Thor and Jane had an Offscreen Breakup.
  • Fury and Tony have an exchange about Tony's vision of being "the man who killed the Avengers" and being Forced to Watch, in which Fury notes that "The worst part is that you didn't." Come Avengers: Infinity War, and Tony is forced to watch Doctor Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man all die in front of him, while being unable to do a thing about it.
  • And speaking of Tony, during the initial argument with the team after Ultron escaped with the scepter, he discusses with them about how the local threats on Earth are nothing to what may come in the future, specifically pointing up and saying, "That up there... That's the Endgame." This becomes a massive double-whammy as not only did the said outside threat come to pass as mentioned above, but Stark unknowingly dropped the title for the movie featuring the events that are to come right after.
  • Thor's line at the end that the Mind Stone "will be safe with [Vision]". Come Avengers: Infinity War, not only will he be proven wrong (as Thanos ultimately acquires the Stone nonetheless), but Vision being a Stone carrier will turn out to be his doom.
  • Clint and Laura’s unborn (later newborn) son Nathaniel is given the middle name Pietro after the latter died saving Clint’s life. Come Avengers: Endgame, Nathaniel’s first name (named so after Natasha) also becomes a namesake as Natasha is Killed Off for Real in a Heroic Sacrifice both in order to obtain the Soul Stone and to prevent Clint from having to do it instead.
    • Before the helicarrier arrives to assist in the evacuations, Natasha remarks to Steve, "There's worse ways to go. Where else am I gonna get a view like this?" As it turns out, Natasha would get a similar view...up on Vormir.
  • After successfully apprehending Strucker and acquiring Loki's scepter, Tony offhandedly mentions that he isn't really the boss of the Avengers, and mostly just "[pays] for everything, [designs] everything, and [makes] everyone look cooler". The Falcon and the Winter Soldier reveals that Tony is dead serious, as this also means he pays living expenses/wages for active-duty Avengers. And his death in Avengers: Endgame shows the negative repercussions of doing this for Sam Wilson; Sam no longer has a consistent paycheck, having to unsuccessfully attempt to acquire a bank loan in Louisiana instead to shore up his family's commercial fishing business, and eventually take up Cap's mantle himself.
  • When Pietro dies, we see Wanda let out a Skyward Scream and a burst of kinetic energy that vaporizes the Ultron drones in the room she's in. At least here, she just destroys the drones and doesn't turn an entire New Jersey town into her own sitcom reality.
  • Klaue's whole appearance here, and talking about how his vibranium stockpile came "at great personal cost" falls into this after Black Panther (2018) reveals the rest of the details of said heist.
  • This isn't going to be the last time Tony goes behind his teammates' backs and ends up causing friction that divides them as a result.
  • Wanda carefully mind controls Sokovians to evacuate the danger zone. Since she doesn't use her mind manipulation abilities in the three films she appears in between this one and WandaVision, it can be hard to realize in retrospect that this is how it works when she is in control of her powers. When not in control, on the other hand...
  • Vision's proclamation to the Avengers that he is on the side of life when trying to explain who he is to the Avengers becomes significantly more ironic after a variant of him in episode 5 of What If...? is shown luring people into Camp Lehigh with the intention of feeding them to a zombified Wanda Maximoff.
  • A few characters worry about the prospect of Ultron gaining access to the world's nuclear codes during the events of this film due to the untold damage he would be able to bring upon the world. The eighth episode of What If...? has Ultron do exactly that, completely destroying the Earth and everyone on it except for Black Widow and Hawkeye.
  • When the Avengers are trying to establish whether or not Vision can be trusted, Bruce asks him, "If we’re wrong about you, if you’re the monster that Ultron made you to be..." and Vision pointedly replies, "What will you do?" The eighth episode of What If...? shows just how much of a threat Ultron would be if he had successfully downloaded himself into Vision's body: he essentially becomes nigh-unstoppable, eradicating all life on every sapient planet in his universe. Then, upon discovering Uatu the Watcher, he decides to expand his goal to the rest of the multiverse.
  • When Tony mentions to the Avengers that he's acquainted with Ulysses Klaue, he uneasily mentions, "There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn’t sell him anything." The sixth episode of What If...?, set in a universe where Erik Killmonger saves Tony from the Ten Rings' attempt to assassinate him, sees Tony come up with the idea to purchase vibranium from Klaue through Rhodey under the guise of a U.S. diplomatic mission to build a fleet of Liberator drones, the whole time being manipulated as part of Killmonger's scheme to orchestrate a war between the United States and Wakanda.
  • When the Maximoff twins are describing their parents' deaths to Ultron, Wanda is clearly uncomfortable and initially tries to discourage Pietro from talking about it in depth. WandaVision shows just why this makes her so uncomfortable: when the bombs hit, they were watching one of Wanda's favorite sitcoms, The Dick Van Dyke Show.
  • During Thor's hallucination brought upon by Wanda's powers, Heimdall coldly remarks, "We are all DEAD!", and that Thor is leading them all to Hel. Come the events of both Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War, and most of the Asgardians, including Heimdall himself, are all dead at both Hela and Thanos's hands.
  • Natasha's line regarding how the Avengers pretending to care about Clint brings the team together gets harsher after this movie—once Clint is gone, the Avengers do indeed fall apart. Clint himself lampshades this.
  • Throughout the film, Ultron accuses the Avengers of being unworthy of being Earth's protectors because they "confuse peace with quiet" and are resistant to any change happening in the world. One of the biggest complaints people would have regarding the MCU's third and fourth phases is how its installments constantly promote the idea of changing things up for the greater good, only to instead adhere to Status Quo Is God. As such, many people actually began to agree with Ultron as time has gone on.
  • The fact that this was the last time all of the main members of the Avengers were together is pretty sad. Thor and Hulk go awol during the team's breakup. Hawkeye is absent in Infinity War which also saw Wanda, Vision, and Nick Fury being killed off. Fury and Wanda come back in the the sequel, but Vision doesn't due to not being snapped away like the others and Natasha is already dead at that point. That movie also had Tony die, with Steve being assumed dead due to traveling back in time to live during his original era, meaning the team never got to have that one last battle together.
• He's Just Hiding:
  • While there is definitive proof that Quicksilver is down for the count, many wonder if the character will stay dead forever, especially when taking the character's shared film rights into account. It's also worth noting that the actor has signed a multi-film contract, so it's not impossible that they're planning to bring him Back from the Dead later down the line (it wouldn't be the first time). This Tumblr post pointed out that Quicksilver never got an on-screen funeral, like Coulson, Bucky, Loki and Nick Fury, who appeared to be dead but turned out to be alive. In any case, it's confirmed that he is dead. Given the source material, the real question is whether it will last. WandaVision would go on to play with fans' theories by casting the Fox version of Quicksilver as Ralph Bohner, a Westview resident Agatha Harkness dupes into behaving like Pietro.
  • Baron Strucker is killed by Ultron barely halfway through the film, but in the comics the character has a history of surviving seemingly-fatal incidents which could be carried over here. Also, the actor signed a multi-film contract before filming started on this movie, just like Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver, so it's not impossible we'll see them again.
  • Ultron's schtick in the comics is that he always has a means to come back that he put in place well whenever his main body was destroyed, so plenty of fans are suggesting that he may well be coming back later on, especially since he is the main recurring antagonist of the Avengers in the comics.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • A common joke following the movie is that it took Ultron all of 15 minutes on the internet to decide humanity was beyond saving and needed to die. Then in March 2016, Microsoft put an AI on Twitter, and within 24 hours, it was saying Hitler did nothing wrong and saying the Mexicans should be wiped out.
  • Natasha's procedure for calming down a Hulked-out Bruce is called "The Lullaby." The following year, Scarlett Johansson covered "Trust In Me", the lullaby-ish song originally sung by Kaa the python, for the live-action remake of The Jungle Book (2016).
  • Any Angst? What Angst? behavior demonstrated pretty much by every single Avenger is either hilarious in a dark way or Harsher in Hindsight, depending on how you see it, when in Captain America: Civil War, Baron Zemo describes how the Avengers just went home after the Battle of Sokovia as if it was just another day while he found the dead bodies of his family under the debris, and how it motivates him for revenge against them. Maybe the Avengers do deserve to be split apart in Civil War, after all.
  • After a major plot point in Civil War was that Steve never told Tony that his parents were actually murdered by HYDRA, Tony fans had a field day with Steve sniping about Tony keeping him and the rest of the team in the dark about Ultron.
    Steve: Sometimes my teammates don't tell me things.
  • In the Latin American dub, the scene where Captain America calls Iron Man on his language became hilarious when Deadpool (2016) premiered, since Chris Evans and Ryan Reynolds share the same VA, José Antonio Macías, at least for Deadpool and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
  • With the release of Black Panther (2018) and The Reveal that vibranium in the MCU isn't just a super-durable metal, but also a mutagen and a power source that makes it integral to all of Wakanda's hyper-tech (like spears that can not only cut through metal like runny butter, but house built-in plasma cannons that can destroy tanks), Ultron's contempt at America using what vibranium they had to make Captain America's shield ("The most versatile substance on the planet, and they used it to make a Frisbee") is kind of an understatement.
  • In one of her promotional interviews, Elizabeth Olsen said, in regards to what she wanted to see happen to Wanda post-Age of Ultron, "I mean...my favorite [Scarlet Witch comic story] is House of M, but that would never happen. I mean, if she could have two fake babies and everyone tell her that they don't really exist, and then her just go nuts, that would be unbelievable! But I don't think they're gonna do that. It might be a little too dark for the Marvel Universe. When she loses her mind, it's my favorite thing in the comics."
  • According to Kevin Feige, the Hulk's subplot was originally going to end with him flying the Quinjet off into space, but Marvel nixed the idea because they didn't want people to believe that they were setting up for a Planet Hulk movie. The next time we see Hulk is in Thor: Ragnarok, which is in large part a Pragmatic Adaptation of said comic.
  • Tony pointing out that the threat of HYDRA is nothing compared to whoever was behind the Chitauri, stating that "that up there, that's the endgame."
  • Tony's "whose girlfriend is better" banter with Thor in this film turns into this when Pepper is revealed to have left him sometime afterward. Doubly awkward in that Thor and Jane are revealed to have broken up between The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok as well, leaving Tony and Thor's competition to be somewhat pointless in the long run.
    • Then again, Pepper and Tony reconciled earlier than Thor and Jane did, only for both relationships to end permanently after a member of each couple died.
  • During the bickering as Cap tries to stop Tony and Banner from bringing Vision to life, Wanda protests, "You don't know what's in there!" Yet when Vision is given life courtesy of Thor moments later, and bursts out of the cradle, she goes straight to staring lustily at his naked synthezoid body. All of this becomes funnier once Wanda and Vision become lovers in between Civil War and Infinity War, while WandaVision is about their romantic relationship together. Especially when the first thing she says to him reads a bit... differently.
    Wanda: I looked into your head, and saw annihilation.
    Vision: Look again.
    Clint: Yeah. Her seal of approval means jack to me.
  • Given that Vision's cradle appears to have kept him cryogenically frozen (based on the mist around him when he comes to life), others are probably asking, "Who's the popsicle?"
  • Pietro's remark that "The [official] records are not the picture" when describing the deaths of his and Wanda's parents can come off as weirdly ironic after WandaVision establishes that his description of the events isn't the whole picture either.
  • Cap being able to budge Mjolnir ever so slightly becomes this when he actually uses it in Avengers: Endgame. Thor even exclaims, "I Knew It!" when that happens.
  • When seeing Laura for the first time, Tony half-jokingly assumes that she's an agent of some kind. Hawkeye would reveal that she's indeed a former S.H.I.E.L.D agent, specifically Agent 19/Mockingbird.
  • Bruce's angst about being unable to have children due to his gamma exposure takes a hilarious turn after She-Hulk: Attorney at Law reveals that the Hulk would end up having a son with an alien woman sometime before the events of Thor: Ragnarok.
  • Cap's "Language!" warning is extra funny when Chris Evans drops a Cluster F-Bomb in Knives Out.
• Ho Yay: The tension between Steve and Tony can easily edge into this — when Scarlet Witch makes Tony think that the rest of the team is dead, Steve is the one he goes to, and he's visibly horrified by a dying Steve telling him that he could have done more. Even lampshaded by Natasha, who quips, "I thought you and Tony were still gazing into each other's eyes" after Tony says goodbye to Steve as the former leaves the Avengers indefinitely.
  Tony: I'm gonna miss [Thor], and you're gonna miss me...
  Steve: I am gonna miss you, Tony.
• I Knew It!:
  • Tony Stark being the creator of Ultron, as opposed to Hank Pym.
  • Many fans guessed correctly that Andy Serkis was playing Ulysses Klaue.
  • A lot of people figured out that J.A.R.V.I.S. would be transformed into the Vision upon learning that Paul Bettany, who played J.A.R.V.I.S. previously, would be playing the Vision.
  • Speaking of the Vision, many figured out that his third eye is an Infinity Stone.
  • Adding to that, there was strong speculation that Loki's scepter was the Mind Stone even going back to the first movie.
  • When it was confirmed that the movie would feature a "big" death, some fans pointed to the lack of merchandise for Quicksilver as possible evidence of his demise. They were correct.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Scarlet Johansen was pregnant in a film where Natasha reveals she was sterilized and can never have kids.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: The most common criticism reviewers have had about the film, even from many of the positive reviews, is that it did very little to break any new ground after the first Avengers film. To a lesser extent this complaint was brought up with other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up to this point, with many stating that they were beginning to feel increasingly formulaic.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Wanda ended up being one, with her most popular ships being Clint, Steve, Vision and...Pietro.
• Memetic Mutation: Now on its own page
• Mis-blamed: Joss Whedon tends to be vocally blamed for just about every aspect of the film people dislike, including things he couldn't possibly have any control over. These things include Natalie Portman's lack of interest in reprising the role of Jane Foster, the absence of Pepper Potts due to Gwyneth Paltrow's contract with Marvel not having being renewed, Scarlett Johansson's pregnancy impacting the amount and type of scenes Natasha could've been in, or the presence of the Thor cave subplot (which was put in by Executive Meddling).
• Moral Event Horizon: See here.
• Narm: See here.
• Narm Charm:
  • "There are no strings on me". If said by anyone other than Ultron, it would be complete Narm, but James Spader manages to make it sound terrifying.
  • The slow-motion shot of all the Avengers in their Ass Kicking Pose during the opening battle is pure comic book cheese. And it's awesome.
• Never Live It Down: Cap chiding Tony for his "language" during the opening battle is this both in-universe and out. Fans and the heroes themselves like to use this to characterize Cap as a goody two-shoes and boy-scout who won't tolerate even the slightest of profanities.
  Steve: That's not going away anytime soon.
• Nightmare Retardant: Ultron's moveable humanoid face of his main design. For some, it's just not as scary compared to the other images that closely resemble the twisted metal abomination he's based on. Some detractors also argue that his snarky personality made it difficult to buy him as a serious threat, especially when his voice suddenly becomes higher while tossing out jokes.
• No Yay: Black Widow's relationship with the Hulk has proved to be very controversial, especially on sites like Tumblr. On top of sinking the popular Fan-Preferred Couple Clintasha, a lot of fans are squicked by the seeming age gap as well as the fact that the two seemingly had no chemistry or buildup beforehand.
• Older Than They Think:
  • As much as people like to give the film crap for it, Natasha's sterilization is something taken from the comics, making it somewhat reasonable to include it.
  • As much as people call the film out for not showcasing the Maximoff twins as having Romani-Jewish heritage, this is something that happens to the Twins constantly in adaptations, while even the comics rarely touch on it save for occasional references with Wanda. As far as many adaptations go, this film is Truer to the Text in that it does keep them Eastern European instead of making them Americans.
  • Some fans were surprised that there was a fandom for shipping Wanda with Vision considering their very limited time and interaction on-screen. This mostly stems from them being one of Marvel's oldest romantic couples, when they were a married couple and even had children back in the 80s. Their relationship has gotten...rocky, to say the least, but their shared romantic past continues to affect them in present stories.
  • While Tony Stark being the creator of Ultron rather than Hank Pym elicited complaints from the latter's fans, this isn't the first continuity where that's happened; the Direct-to-DVD animated movie Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow had Tony as Ultron's creator seven years before this film came out. Tony also had a hand in Ultron's development in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, though Hank was still the primary creator.
  • Steve's Never Live It Down moment when he admonishes Tony swearing actually originated in Jeph Loeb's run of The Ultimates where he calls out Sabretooth and later Hawkeye for cussing.
  • Detractors point out Ultron's characterization as a Psychopathic Manchild with Daddy Issues is unlike how he was characterized in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, where he's more of a cold and calculating machine. However, those familiar with Ultron in the comics is that he's just as hammy and Ax-Crazy as he was in the movie, albeit without the snark and quips.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Ulysses Klaue leaves a lot of an impact on the audience for an Early-Bird Cameo, mostly by being an especially confident Badass Normal who has no problems facing down Ultron, Quicksilver, or Scarlet Witch and only pulling a Screw This, I'm Outta Here when he loses an arm and the Avengers show up. It also nicely sets him up for the bigger role he'll play in Black Panther.
  • Veronica AKA the Hulkbuster armor does exactly what it was built to do with just one scene.
  • Madame B is only ever in one scene, but what a scene it is.
• Presumed Flop: The film is sometimes thought to have been a flop due to its reception being considerably weaker than its predecessor, a view shared by some higher-ups at Disney. This is despite the film being the eleventh highest-grossing of all time^note and the fifth-highest at the time of its release! Granted, three of the higher spots are held by other Avengers films, and another three were released in the same year as Age of Ultron^note The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, and Furious 7, so it can be considered a bit of a disappointment relatively speaking, but from an objective standpoint it was immensely successful.
• Questionable Casting: The casting of Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver is this to some. Although Taylor-Johnson is Jewish, the decision to cast white gadjé actors for the (mixed Romani-Jewish) characters of Wanda and Pietro was met with controversy, especially considering the prejudice people of Romani heritage face (a fact which the siblings, especially Wanda, had to face in the comics).
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Hawkeye got criticism in the previous film due to the perception he was Overshadowed by Awesome and spent most of the film as an emotionless Brainwashed and Crazy Distressed Dude. This time, he gets to snark as much as everyone else, gets his own character development, backstory, a good number of awesome moments that showcase his Badass Normal skills, and demonstrates that he can be as charismatic as Steve. This film proves why he's on a team alongside gods and One Man Armies.
  • While not a true scrappy, this film did for Scarlet Witch what the first Iron Man movie did for Tony Stark at the time it came out. She had a Never Live It Down moment to some fans due to her mental breakdown in House of M^note later semi-adapted for the MCU in WandaVision causing the mutant population to decrease significantly. Her portrayal in this movie gave her a well rounded personality, an excellent relationship with her brother, and being the first hero in the MCU to have powers like telekinesis and mind manipulation which is definitely allowing her to regain her former popularity. It helps that this is one of the few portrayals that focus on her Avengers career rather than just being the daughter of Magneto (who's not allowed to appear in the MCU anyway).
  • Also in regards to rescuing a comic book character popularity, The Vision was one of the victims of Scarlet Witch's mental breakdown during Avengers Disassembled, and was quite literally left in the Avenger's warehouse for years before he finally repaired himself. Even returning, he has not been really written or used much in comics in the past 3 years, and his character development stops at him being bitter at his ex-wife Wanda and never getting over her. However, with the movie's release and with Paul Bettany's portrayal of Vision being a calm, collected, and good-humored intelligent person, aspects of his MCU counterpart are now appearing more prominently in his comic personality. In addition, with Vision being a major character in the MCU, The Vision is now one of the few confirmed to return after Marvel's big multiversal reconstruction event Secret Wars.
  • People have breathed a sigh of relief to see Erik Selvig has re-appeared and seems to be doing much better than his last film. In Thor: The Dark World, he was suffering a nervous breakdown from Loki's control and he suddenly had a lot of quirks being played for laughs that a lot of people found too mean-spirited. Here, he manages to help Thor and is very much in control, and even is seen helping get the new Avengers team set up at the end.
• Romantic Plot Tumor: After being teased with both Captain America and Hawkeye, Black Widow is paired up with Bruce Banner of all people. The fact that they've shown absolutely no signs of interest in each other up to this point means that the plot occasionally takes a backseat to show them awkwardly flirting with each other.
• Ron the Death Eater:
  • Regardless of his actions during this movie, some diehard Wanda fans like to act as if Tony was personally responsible for the deaths of her parents when it was highly unlikely he even had anything to do with the sale and eventual deployment of the bomb that was dropped on her house as shown in WandaVision. It's much more likely to have been handled by Obadiah Stane, who mentions in the first film that Tony's company responsibilities were mostly limited to R&D. Or by NATO / the US military, since terrorists probably wouldn't drop bombs on buildings but instead set them off in crowded public spaces.
  • Wanda is often blamed by some fans for Ultron's creation through the vision she gave Tony of what was to come, and letting him leave Strucker's base with the scepter. It is often overlooked that Tony had already written the Ultron program, which obviously contained a lot of Tony's personality (to the point that Klaue recognizes him as one of Tony's creations just by hearing him repeat something he once heard Tony say) and can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it (with Wanda even pointing out to Steve, "Where do you think [Ultron] gets that?"). Furthermore, Tony wanted to use the scepter to upload Ultron as soon as he saw the data in Strucker's laboratory, which was well before Wanda entered the room.
  • Some fans blame Wanda for the damage caused by the Hulk's rampage, even though it's very unlikely that she had any idea what the Hulk was going to do. By the locations in the film, the abandoned shipyard where she influenced the Hulk was several hundred miles away from Johannesburg, and in an area where there were no innocent civilians. So any deaths in the Hulk's rampage, while certainly tragic, were unintentional because Wanda's experiences with her powers up to that point was that they made people catatonic (like happened to the rest of the Avengers), not travel several hundred miles and then cause mayhem.
• Salvaged Story:
  • After the Suspiciously Similar Substitute that was used toward the end of Iron Man 3, the inclusion of the real Hulkbuster Armor, confirmed with a clip of it fighting the Hulk in the trailer was met with the fanbase's roaring approval.
  • The first Avengers movie got a little flak from fans and Chris Evans himself for its portrayal of Captain America as underpowered or dull to watch compared to the other heroes. While Captain America: The Winter Soldier got him Rescued from the Scrappy Heap in this regard, fans were worried that he might regress in Ultron. Thankfully they were assuaged now that he's been shown doing things like throwing motorcycles effortlessly into a truck full of mooks, going into single-handed combat with Ultron and holding his own for a very long time, and providing as many sarcastic quips as everyone else.
  • After complaints that War Machine was the only previously established hero in the MCU at the time of the first film to not be given even so much as a mention hand-waving his absence, both Falcon & War Machine are shown early in the film. In fact, War Machine is brought to the climactic battle as The Cavalry, and both he and Falcon officially join the line-up at the end of the movie.
  • Many Thor fans were displeased to see Erik Selvig Demoted to Comic Relief in Thor: The Dark World, especially since it saw the trauma of being Brainwashed and Crazy by Loki being Played for Laughs. Here, Selvig is back to being a benevolent and helpful scientist with some vague understanding of Norse mythology, and plays a significant role in helping Thor in the cave and organizing the New Avengers in Upstate New York.
  • The Avengers line-up lacking minority characters (even after several were established) is addressed: by the end of the film, the team has a new, more diverse lineup which includes another woman who is non-American (Scarlet Witch), two African-American men (War Machine and Falcon), an android (Vision), and Captain America as the only white male.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat: Clintasha fans have gotten into rather vicious fights with Brucetasha and Clint/Laura fans following the release.
• Signature Scene: Even negative reviews cited that the party scene early on - where the team is hanging out and having a good time as friends rather than superheroes, and they all compete to lift Thor's hammer - was engaging and enjoyable.
• Sophomore Slump: Age of Ultron is generally regarded to be the weakest out of the Infinity Saga Avengers films. The first movie is praised for bringing Marvel's biggest heroes together into a crowd-pleasing blockbuster, while Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame are acclaimed for their large scope and emotional depth. Age of Ultron, while far from a bad movie, has been criticized for its uneven storytelling, jarring tone-shifts, and distracting emphasis on setting up future films in the series.
• Special Effect Failure: Tellingly, AoU became the Infinity Saga's only Avengers movie denied a nomination for the Best Visual Effects Oscar.^note By extension, the Infinity Saga's only Avengers movie not to receive any Oscar nominations at all.
  • The Oner in the beginning of the movie isn't as smooth as it is in the first movie. The Avengers' CG doubles appear to be moving unnaturally at points.
  • The first fight between Ultron and Iron Man looks pretty rough, as if they were composited into the scene with little regard for lighting or camera movement.
  • For the effect of super speed for Quicksilver, Whedon had Aaron Taylor-Johnson run for real on set and had the resulting footage speed up afterwards with added speed lines. While mostly successful, the effect is glaring at points.
• Squick: Tony says to Natasha and Banner, "Don't tell me you two were playing 'hide the zucchini'." Brings to mind a certain NSFW gif of Hulk and Black Widow...
• Stoic Woobie: Captain America is just as shaken by the visions as the rest of the team, and is still dealing with the issues of depression and having almost no life outside of conflict that came up in his previous film, to the point that he feels that he's a different person from the man who wanted a peaceful life and a family. However, Steve is, hands down, the Avenger who is the least visibly affected by the film's events.
• Strangled by the Red String: Pre-release, this was feared with the teasing of the Widow/Banner romance. After release, given it's Widow's major story arc in the movie, both critics and fans were divided on how it was handled. A big factor in this is that at least an hour of footage was cut from the movie (the theatrical cut of which is still 2 1/2 hours long), which makes much of their romance (and the rest of the plot) seem to just lurch from event to event without any proper build-up. Additionally, the pre-amble to their Romance Arc in this film seems to have occurred entirely off-screen, between films.
• Surprisingly Good Accent: Andy Serkis puts on a very convincing South African accent in his portrayal of Ulysses Klaue.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Some people felt this about Ultron himself. Seeing as though the original comics character was a cold, stoic sociopath who made it clear in his actions that he loathed humanity and wanted to see the species go extinct from the get-go, a lot of fans were turned off by his Adaptational Personality Change to make him resemble Iron Man's characteristics (particularly his newfound Deadpan Snarker tendencies), as well as his inconsistent and unfocused goals that frequently shift throughout the film. Overall, quite a few fans feel that Ultron wasn't adapted as faithfully as he could've been.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Quicksilver dies. This has provoked a universal outcry from general audiences and comic readers alike, because this is only his first real appearance after the stinger of The Winter Soldier. And it especially grates for MCU fans, because he is also in the Fox X-Men universe, thus a prime target for Fandom Rivalry.
  • Fans of Falcon were disappointed he didn't show up with Fury and War Machine to help aid the heroes in the climax. It's a particular waste given Sam's background as a pararescue jumper, meaning his skills as a flying Combat Medic would have made him one of the most useful people to call in to help the Sokovian civilians. This also would have made him joining the Avengers at the end more potent.
  • Many fans were disappointed that Wolfgang von Strucker was turned into a Dirty Coward who runs off from the Avengers at the beginning and is then unceremoniously killed by Ultron offscreen, especially after the teaser in The Winter Soldier built him up as a potential threat and was a main villain in the non-canon MCU video game Captain America: Super Soldier.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Even though the first Avengers film ended with the team splitting up and the different members going their separate ways, with the following films showing them having their own adventures on their own side, this film starts with the Avengers already assembled. It could have been interesting to see the circumstances in which the team finally reunited after all that time, but nope.
  • The first post-credit scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier had Baron Strucker revealing that HYDRA is still very much active and has several bases all over the world that should keep Captain America and his friends busy. At the beginning of this movie, it's mentioned that the Avengers have spent the last few months fighting HYDRA and took care of all those bases off-screen. The war against HYDRA could have easily filled an entire movie on its own, unfortunately all we get to see of it is the assault of Strucker's base in the opening scene.
  • The film is very vague about whether the other Avengers besides Cap and Black Widow knew that Fury was still alive. Tony certainly doesn't seem too surprised to see him, and then it simply cuts to his briefing.
  • The film sketches out the barest hint of an arc for Captain America. At the end, he seems to view Kosovo-style interventionism as a affirmation of SHIELD/America's place in the world and redemption for SHIELD's actions during Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But it's majorly glossed over in the film, left mostly to incidental details like the Sokovian murals with dollar signs over the Avengers' faces and Captain America's vision of bloodshed after Ultron remarks he can't live in a world without war. As a result of this dearth of dramatic material, he has little to do other than be the Standardized Leader. Although it's known there exists a longer cut of the film and that Joss Whedon was unhappy with the Marvel Creative Committee's Executive Meddling, so perhaps it was a victim of editing.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Ulysses Klaue was a surprise addition to the cast, considering that Black Panther was still a year away from making his MCU debut.
  • When Claudia Kim was first announced to be joining the cast, guesses abounded about who she could be playing. Theories ranged from Soo-Yin (a friend of Tony Stark) to the Avenger Mantis using an alias (Mantis would debut in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, played by Pom Klementieff). Few were expecting Helen Cho, the mother of Amadeus Cho.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Ultron of all characters, as he was animated with realistic moving lips when he speaks, and can look rather jarring with how human the movement can look on this very metallic head. Many compared it unfavorably to his comic book counterpart, which simply has a permanent Jack-O-Lantern mouth that lights up when he speaks.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Some viewers see Wanda as this during her breakdown in the climax. While the twins didn't know of Ultron's plan to destroy humanity, Wanda did use Mind Rape on the Hulk, knowing it would lead to destruction and casualties, not to mention her manipulation of Tony's mind to make him see a horrible Bad Future vision.
• Vindicated by History:
  • While the movie still isn't as well-regarded as the other Avengers films, it became more popular with fans after Avengers: Endgame has several big payoffs to story elements that were set up in this film, and character-specific moments that would influence the conclusion of their respective arcs. The biggest examples both involve Captain America, between him nearly lifting Thor's hammer and the final battle opening with a cut-off version of his "Avengers, assemble!" line.
  • Everything with Wanda Maximoff. The seeds laid for Wanda's growing powers, the future relationship between her and Vision, and even the death of her brother here, all of which pay off in the immensely successful WandaVision.
• Woolseyism: The "prima noctis" line was replaced in the Brazilian dub and with Iron Man saying "[my] laws will be really fun", which could mean anything instead of its original meaning.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: The concept art for the outfits of Wanda and Pietro, showing the two wearing outfits that are closer to regular clothes than superhero costumes has resulted in this, depending on who you ask. Wanda dons a more traditional outfit at the very end, and eventually donned a modernized version of her Scarlet Witch costume at the end of WandaVision.

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